An Extra Dimension

My favourite kind of art is interactive art: art that places you in the centre of it and forces you to think about your own place in the world.

Yesterday I went to see Anthony Gormely’s exhibition, Test Sites, at the White Cube, and it did exactly that. There are two parts to it but the part that spoke to me the loudest was Breathing Room III, an imposing framework of photo-luminescent “space-frames” that you are invited to walk through.

You are directed into Breathing Room III by an usher with a flashlight, who shows you the path into a dark room. You round a corner and are immediately faced with a glowing web, a structure that appears more like a complex series of light-beams than anything solid. It’s a bit like being in a computer game. Or possibly The Matrix. You can walk through the structure, picking your way through the grids of light, and when you stand there in the middle of all that, it feels a bit like you might have just discovered another dimension.

And then, suddenly, the room is filled with bright light. You’re looking at a plain white structure and a room full of shocked and blinking faces. Suddenly the whole thing seems to have lost a dimension; everything feels flat and empty. Everything feels a bit wrong.

Then, without warning, the lights go off again, and that first moment when you are confronted with the glowing grids is just magical. It’s like regaining a dimension. It feels safe again and beautiful. I could have stayed there for hours just for that moment. I’m a light-beam junkie.

It’s only at the White Cube until 10 July, but if you’re in London with a spare half an hour, I highly recommend it. And if you're not able to experience it first-hand, the Guardian have some great photos of it here.

Image by David Levene for the Guardian